Dehydrogenation catalysts and the preparation of such catalysts are known in the art. Iron oxide based catalysts are customarily used in the dehydrogenation of dehydrogenatable hydrocarbons to yield, among other compounds, a corresponding dehydrogenated hydrocarbon. In this field of catalytic dehydrogenation of dehydrogenatable hydrocarbons to dehydrogenated hydrocarbons there are ongoing efforts to develop dehydrogenation catalysts that exhibit improved performance.
EP 1027928 discloses dehydrogenation catalysts based upon an iron oxide made by spray roasting an iron salt solution, and adding additional catalyst components selected from the group consisting of Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Sc, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Ta, Mo, W, Mn, Tc, Re, Ru, Os, Co, Rh, Ir, Ni, Pd, Pt, Cu, Ag, Au, Zn, Cd, Hg, Al, Ga, In, Tl, Na, Cs, La, Li, Ge, Sn, Pb, Bi, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu. These catalysts generally have one or more potassium compounds.